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Sunday, July 3, 2011

NBA faces $1 million fine for using Facebook or Twitter during lockout (Yahoo! News)

Contract negotiations enact tough new rules against social media leaks

Salary negotiations, salary caps, revenue sharing and just about every other negotiation has come to a standstill today between the NBA and its players. Since the expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement last night between the owners and players, the league has barred any interaction between them through Facebook or Twitter until a new contract is reached.

Should the owners communicate with the players via social media tools, the offender is not only facing a million dollar fine from the league, but the owner's eligibility to participate in draft picks for the new season could also be yanked. This could be devastating to a team that is trying to rebuild for a run at the national title.

The ban on Facebook is particularly tough, extending to coaches, managers and front office personnel. The Twitter blackout is a little more lax. Players can be followed on Twitter, but messages cannot be sent via the social service, nor the retweeting of their updates.

All of this is part of a bigger lockout strategy that puts an end to scouting, European preseason games and support for this summer's Olympic qualifying tournaments. If the two sides don't come to an agreement before the official start of the season, Twitter leaks may soon be the least of their problems.

(Source)

Post by Dan O'Halloran

Monday, June 27, 2011

Gunman updates Facebook, gets help from friends during 16-hour standoff with police (Yahoo! News)

For most of us, it's hard enough to navigate our daily grind while still remembering to check out the latest personal news bits on our social network of choice, but Jason Valdez of Utah has no such trouble. In fact, he was able to ward off Salt Lake City's finest SWAT officers, keep a young woman as his hostage, and update his Facebook all at the same time. He even went so far as to add a few new friends to his social network account during the scary ordeal.

After Salt Lake police had discovered Valdez was staying at a local hotel, they attempted to take him into custody on a felony drug charge. When Valdez saw the law closing in on him, he attempted to make a last stand at the Western Colony Inn, and began his string of Facebook updates. His first post read, "I'm currently in a standoff ...kinda ugly, but ready for whatever."

Over the next 16 hours, Valdez posted numerous additional updates, and even took photos of himself and the woman the police identified as his hostage. His friends and family posted dozens of replies, both urging him to stand down without incident, and even attempting to help him avoid arrest. One friend warned, "Gunner in the bushes stay low," to which the suspect replied "Thank you homie, good looking out."

Eventually, the SWAT team took the hotel by force, though they never fired a shot. They secured the hostage without injury while Valdez, in a last attempt to evade an arrest, shot himself in the chest with a pistol. He remains in critical condition. Police have yet to decide whether they will charge the suspect's social network contacts who were offering him aid during the standoff.

San Francisco Chronicle via Gizmodo

Cellphone recovered during Bin Laden raid yields clues to Pakistan’s terror ties (Yahoo! News)

After the raid on Osama Bin Laden's hideout, the elite squad that conducted the bold operation walked away with something possibly even more valuable than the body of the Al-Qaeda leader — his data. The operation yielded hard drives and other computer equipment, including the cellphone of one of Bin Laden's most trusted couriers. That phone could lead to answers about the most troubling question that remains: How did Bin Laden live so close to the capital of Pakistan undetected?

In the events leading up to the dramatic raid, U.S. intelligence agents watched Bin Laden's couriers closely. Eventually that intel led to the fortified compound where he was killed. Now, data collected from a courier's phone points to a relationship between the compound's inhabitants and Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen, a militant Islamic group with friendly ties to Pakistan's intelligence agency.

After the death of Bin Laden, the relationship between the U.S. and Pakistan has become increasingly strained. Since the Al-Qaeda compound was conspicuously close to Pakistan's capital city, Abbottabad, the U.S. government is naturally skeptical of Pakistan's claim that it had no knowledge of the terrorist leader's whereabouts. Of course, now the plot thickens, and all eyes are on Pakistan for an explanation.

(Source)